Motion passed regarding policing - including reaching out to LaSalle

Amherstburg Municipal Building.

More information on the three options left on the table should be coming in the new year.

Those options, as has already been previously announced, are either having policing done through a joint agreement with LaSalle, signing a contract with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) or bringing back Amherstburg Police.

A motion that came out of last Tuesday’s in-camera meeting that administration send correspondence to the LaSalle town council and the LaSalle Police Services Board “to invite further discussions and negotiation” regarding providing policing services to the Town of Amherstburg.

Administration was also directed to continue bringing back information on other options inclusive of the re-establishment of the Amherstburg Police Service and entering into a contract for policing with the OPP.

Mayor Michael Prue said information gathered from LaSalle, the OPP and other municipalities that have re-started their own police forces will be put into a report that administration will prepare. 

The report is anticipated to be compiled and made public early in the new year with discussion and community input to be part of the process.

The current contract with the Windsor Police Service expires Dec. 31, 2028. Prue noted the current council will enter a lame duck period midway through next year when the nomination period opens for the Oct. 26, 2026 municipal election.

“Each one of the three options have their own merits,” the mayor stated.

There are those who would like to see Amherstburg police return, he added, while others are open to joining with LaSalle. Others see communities around Essex County policed by the OPP and are open to the idea, Prue added.

As for himself, Prue indicated all options are up for consideration.

“Any one of these is possible,” he said. “I want to keep an open mind.”

Prue said he wants to provide information to the residents and allow them a chance to provide feedback.

The Windsor Police Service has been providing policing services in Amherstburg since early 2019, after a 20-year contract was signed in late 2018. That contract allowed each municipality the ability to opt out every five years, something the City of Windsor chose to do citing cost considerations. 

Prue said in August that a request was made of Windsor to have town representation on the Windsor Police Services Board, something that hasn’t happened since the first term of the contract, but the town was told no.

The town had also floated the idea of a regional police service, but Essex County council chose not to go forward with it.

Motion passed regarding policing - including reaching out to LaSalle

By Ron Giofu